The present invention relates generally to ladders typically mounted on the stern portion of a boat and, more particularly, to a boat ladder that is storable in a small enclosed space, yet extendible in deployment to be operable for use in exiting the water into the boat.
Telescopic boat ladders are well known in the art. The telescopic nature of the ladder enables the ladder to be stored compactly on the boat, yet be extensible to reach the water to permit swimmers to exit the water and climb into the boat. Typically, telescopic boat ladders are arranged with treads interconnecting laterally spaced rails that are progressively bigger as they are oriented from the remote distal end of the ladder. The rails are then collapsible into one another until the treads are positioned adjacent one another.
One such telescopic boat ladder is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,733, issued to Alfonso Jaramillo on Feb. 8, 2000. In the Jaramillo boat ladder, the telescopic rails collapse into a compact storage unit that is pivotally mounted to the stern portion of the boat. Deployment of the Jaramillo boat ladder from the stored position is accomplished by flipping the compact ladder rearwardly about the pivotal connection thereof with the boat and then extending the rails until the ladder is deployed. The boat ladder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D331,219, issued on Nov. 24, 1992, to Robert Barbour, et al. employs the same general configuration in providing an extensible ladder that is pivotally mounted for swinging movement to the stern portion of a boat.
Another form of an extensible boat ladder can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,752, issued on Mar. 29, 1988, to Robert Z. Sklar. This Sklar ladder incorporates side rails that are formed as a scissor linkage that collapses to approximately half its overall length and then is storable beneath a platform. While the scissors linkage ladder is pivotally attached to the platform, the platform could in turn be pivotally mounted to the stern portion of the boat to provide a more compact storage of the boat ladder.
A different attempt to provide a storable boat ladder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,817, granted on Mar. 14, 1989, to Timothy Geary. The Geary boat ladder utilizes flexible side rails, such as ropes, to suspend ladder treads therebetween. The ladder can then be pushed into a receptacle formed in the stern portion of the boat which has a door that closes the receptacle to create a clean aesthetic appearance. The Geary rope ladder, however, does not provide stability for the person trying to exit the water and climb into the boat. Furthermore, the storage and deployment of the Geary ladder is somewhat cumbersome.
The telescopic ladders disclosed in the Jaramillo, Barbour and Sklar patents all involve a pivotal movement that swings the ladder structure from a collapsed, stored position to a deployed position. This pivotal movement requires overhead clearance and forms a structure for the boat ladder that cannot be easily actuated by someone in the water. Preferably a boat ladder will be accessible and deployable from someone floating in the water beside the boat and will provide a clean aesthetic appearance. Pivotal telescopic boat ladders as depicted in the Jaramillo and Barbour patents cannot easily be stored into a receptacle similar to the Geary patent because the pivotal boat ladder requires overhead clearance to effect the initial pivotal movement of the ladder from the stored position to the deployed position.
It would be desirable to provide a boat ladder that will be telescopic in deployment and permit a collapsed storage configuration that can be easily deployed by a person floating in the water beside the boat.